KINGSTON, R.I. -- July 19, 1999--Whether investigating
evidence from an explosion, analyzing historic firearms evidence from the
Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, or testing clothing samples from a
shooting in Providence, the University of Rhode Island provides some of
the best scientific minds for the fight against crime.

Now the University has decided to build on that expertise by establishing
the Forensic Science Partnership, a collaboration of the Rhode Island State
Crime Laboratory, which is based at URI's College of Pharmacy, the other
colleges at URI, the state Department of Health, the state's law enforcement
community, and the insurance industry.

The Forensic Science Partnership is one of three announced recently by
URI President Robert L. Carothers and Provost M. Beverly Swan following
a competitive review process.

The President's Partnership Program was established four years ago to
increase interdisciplinary research efforts in areas critical to societal
needs. The success of the program enters a new stage with this announcement
of a second round of partnership awards. The first round produced increased
research funding to the University, major contributions to external community
partners, and a new level of undergraduate student research projects. The
URI Council for Research recommended funding for the three new partnerships
out of a field of 12 proposals.

In this, the first year, the Forensic Science Partnership
is receiving $150,000. If it meets its first-year goals, it will be considered
for additional funding in future years. The money will fund course development,
faculty seminars, and research projects that will create a regional center
of excellence to assist law enforcement agencies.

The creation of courses could become the foundation
of a master's program in forensic science; no public university in New England
offers such a program.

Dennis Hilliard, director of the Rhode Island State
Crime Laboratory, said the partnership addresses the increasing demand by
college-age students for forensic science programs. "Ever since the
O.J. Simpson and Jon Benet Ramsey cases, and our own lab's work on the Martin
Luther King Jr. case, there has been burgeoning interest in the forensic
sciences," Hilliard remarked.

Hilliard, who is also assistant adjunct professor
of biomedical sciences at URI, is part of a three-member partnership leadership
team that also includes Jimmie C. Oxley, associate professor of chemistry,
and a nationally renowned expert on energetic materials, including explosives,
and propellants, and Everett E. Crisman, assistant professor of chemical
engineering.

The partnership draws on faculty from URI's Colleges
of Engineering, Human Science and Services, Arts and Sciences, Pharmacy,
and the Graduate School of Oceanography.

"The partnership will help us solidify the
connections the Crime Lab has made over the years at URI," said Hilliard,
who holds his master's degree from URI. "We are a very small laboratory,
but we have been able to thrive because of our connections within the University.

Asked to name a few of those beneficial collaborations,
Hilliard said

when he needed help analyzing clothing evidence
taken from a winter

shooting in Providence, he called on Martin Bide,
URI professor of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design. When he needed
help analyzing an organic compound, he called on URI Chemistry Professor
Chris Brown, and when he needed to test the effects of alcohol on the human
body, he called on URI Psychology Professor Nelson Smith.

"The first priority is to teach the faculty
how their expertise relates to forensic science measurements," Professor
Crisman said. "A big part of the program will be talking to faculty
so they can see, that 'oh yes, I can do that.' We have an opportunity here
to be one of the leading centers in both forensic education and research."

The partnership projects will be divided into four
major focus groups: evidence recovery, trace analysis, forensic biology,
and drug and alcohol

analysis.

Professor Oxley said the goal is to run a high
quality program that will result in URI students getting hired by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and
state crime labs.

Based on what's already happened and is happening
at URI, the partnership has great potential for national exposure. Professor
Oxley is organizing a course for 800 Iowa law enforcement and school officials
on how to handle school bomb threats in the wake of the incident in Columbine,
Col. The course is scheduled for Aug. 11 and 12.

The partnership will start recruiting students
for research projects this year and a brochure will also be developed to
enhance law enforcement community awareness of the partnership and to alert
other interested parties of the partnership's existence.

In the second year, the partnership will create
the courses in forensic science and continue the undergraduate projects.
In the third year, the courses will be implemented within a college or academic
department of URI and students and faculty will present their research projects.